While February is the shortest month, you’d never know that from checking the Center's calendar of activities (and I urge to do so (https://womenengineers.seas.gwu.edu/events). While all are new and noteworthy, I want to highlight the Center’s support of GW's Engineering Week (or e-Week). We are sponsoring (or co-sponsoring) four events – an Alumni Panel discussing what it takes to be a female engineer (RSVP using this link), an Edible Car contest, Mock Interviews, and the STEM and Health Job fair. 

You may ask, why is WiE hosting a table at the Job Fair, since the Center is not actually offering any jobs? We are there to promote the Center as a resource. We know that accepting a position at a company or an institution requires deliberation on many aspects, e.g., the type of position, the salary, the location. Add to these, especially for women engineers, the climate of the institution. We will be offering a tipsheet on how to ‘investigate’ the climate of a company of interest. Once the Fair is over, the tip-sheet will be posted as a resource on the WiE website – so check it out!

Our next big initiative is to launch a mentoring program. The general outline has been drafted;  we will present it to our Boards of Directors, and plan to formally announce the mentoring program in late March. If you have experience in structuring a mentoring program and have ideas to share, please send them to us at scwie@gwu.edu.

Finally, while not an event we have created but one we wanted to share with you, especially those of you in the Greater Washington Area, check out Silent Sky at Ford’s theater. “A decade before women gained the right to vote, Henrietta Leavitt and her fellow women “computers” transformed the science of astronomy. In the Harvard Observatory, Leavitt found 2,400 new variable stars and made important discoveries about their fluctuating brightness, enabling fellow scientists to map the Milky Way and beyond. This inspiring drama explores the determination, passion and sacrifice of the women who redefined our understanding of the cosmos.”  We have a discount code for the February 8 matinee, so if interested, contact us at scwie@gwu.edu.

I hope you will take the time to join us for as many events as you can. 

Shelly Heller
WiE Center Director

February 25, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm | SEH, 3rd and 4th Floor Research Areas

Planning your next job or internship interview? Gain confidence and experience in a mock interview with an experienced engineering professional. 

WiE is hosting technically-focused mock interviews for women in engineering the evening of February 25, during GW SEAS e-Week, and we invite you to sign up ASAP to secure a spot! 

Select your first, second and third choices from the following time slots using this form. It is important that you upload your resume in the form as well, so our interviewers have a chance to review your details prior to the interview. The deadline to sign up is Friday, February 21.

Available Time Slots:
6:00 pm – 6:20 pm
6:25 pm – 6:45 pm
6:50 pm – 7:10 pm
7:25 pm – 7:45 pm
7:50 pm – 8:10 pm
8:15 pm – 8:35 pm

February 24, 6:00 pm - 7:45 pm | SEH, Green Wall
Deadline to enter: February 19.
During GW Engineering Week, WiE, in collaboration with GW Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the GW Engineering Council, is hosting the first GW Edible Car Competition. 

Read all about it and sign up to participate at this link. Your team will have a chance to shine by creating a vehicle-like structure that is made up entirely of edible items (items intended for humans – so no dog biscuits or other such items) and can move down an incline plane.

On the evening of the Edible Car Competition, all teams will gather at the "Green Wall" of the SEH Building by no later than 5:45 pm. At 6:00 pm your team will be able to select as many edible items as they would like to construct a car. There will be a pre-filled table containing edible ingredients.. Your team will have 15 minutes to make a decision about your selected materials, and 45 minutes to design, create and test your car.

The GW Chef and Faculty from SEAS will be judges. They will be judging on the use of the edible items, the aesthetics of the car, whether the ‘car’ fulfils the definition of a vehicle, and the ability of the car to move down the plane.

A first, second and third place winning team will be announced and featured, along with photos of their vehicles, on the WiE website and in the SEAS video news feeds.

Submit your Team Name and Team Members using this form. Note that the Primary Contact and 2nd Team Member information are required and up to five team members are allowed. Contact scwie@gwu.edu if you have questions.  The deadline to enter is February 19, 2020. Good luck!

Women in Engineering at SEAS Career Fair
February 28, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm | Marvin Center
Be sure to stop by the WiE Table at the SEAS Career Fair, and chat with us about your ideas! WiE helps students, alumnae, faculty and staff. WiE are here to support you with workshops, career assistance, mentoring and resources. Pick up a guide to diversity-focused employers.

...by WiE Director Shelly Heller

There are many articles and books that echo the Center’s program focusing on issues of unconscious bias and microaggressions. This Forbes article focuses on the more subtle forms of sexism – the curse word or the request that the only woman at the table be the note taker. The author, Dr. Sian L. Beilock, a cognitive scientist and 8th President of Barnard College, suggests that these subtle slights undercut the receiving individuals’ status and performance. Her article cites a research study by Lemarche et. al. in Biological Psychology, January 2020 that suggests this subtle form of sexism, or benevolent sexism “is a double-edged sword that uses praise to maintain gender inequality, which consequently makes women feel less efficacious."